Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-261) and index

Daydreaming -- Introspective studies of Fantasy -- Normative studies of daydreams -- The stream of consciousness -- The function of daydreaming -- Childhood orgins of daydreaming -- Daydreaming during the adolescent and adult years -- Daydreaming and psychopathology -- Daydreaming and imagery methods in psychotherapy -- Daydreaming for child training, education and self-development -- Index

"Though artists like Coleridge or James Joyce have traditionally been allowed and even expected to have a vivid fantasy life, daydreaming in the average person has generally been held in disrepute by clinical psychologists as an illicit way of indulging in unattainable desires, basically regressive, childish behavior when not actually a symptom of neurotic disturbance. Singer, a Yale psychologist who has been working for years combining introspective, clinical and experimental studies of ""man the image-maker, "" proposes some quite different and much more positive functions for our wide-awake reveries. He suggests that the Freudian ""cathartic"" view of daydreaming is far too restricted to encompass an inborn human talent which ""like our capacity for language or our capacity to develop various motor skills"" is part of our fundamental behavioral repertoire. Singer contends that daydreams range beyond conflict resolution of sexual and/or aggressive drives. Besides providing spontaneous enjoyment and relief from monotony or frustration, fantasies also serve as ""rehearsals for future action, "" a unique and important way by which ""we can explore a great range of future possibilities without necessarily committing ourselves through action to irrevocable consequences."--The Kirkus Reviews"--Back cover

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